Warm and Warmth
by Miss Leanne
Summary: She is free to wander Hyrule for one year. He is free to chase after her. Link x Zelda, written for Spring Kinkfest 2011!


It was a tradition among Hylian noble men and women, but seldom observed among Hylian nobles or Royals. Princess Zelda was to be the exception. Before accepting the crown, she told her family that she wished to be free to wander her country for one year before accepting the mantle of leadership. "Just one year," Princess Zelda said to her father one evening in his study before the fire. "I'll be a better ruler if I can know every part and every race of the country I will be ruling."

Her father eventually agreed, and Zelda shed the identity of "Princess" and took on the role of a simple wandering woman. Of course, she did not completely discard her "Princess" identity – her father sent a well-placed knight to watch over her, without her foreknowledge.

When Zelda began suspecting someone familiar was tailing her, it irked Zelda. To imagine a knight being sent to watch her – was she a child in her father's eyes? She had been trained in the arts of defense since she had been taken off the breast.

The knight's presence shadowed her steps and nothing she could do would make him leave her alone. But her father had chosen a knight she knew very, very well. He didn't seem to be offended that she tried to give him the slip, so Zelda turned the situation into a game. She hid as best as she could contrive from the knight – he, however, was a better tracker than she was a runner. Zelda ran, he gave chase and he caught her. It was a game of "cat-and-mouse" between two people who knew one another intimately, despite their respective societal stations.

Over fields and fen, she flew as fast as her feet could carry her – but he caught her. Through the crowds in the marketplace of Castletown, she slipped and he captured her. Swimming through the waters of Zora's domain, she fled and he found her. The game was never meant to be truly stressful or even a power play between Lady and Knight. Zelda was free to do as she pleased for one year – and he was free to pursue her.

During her trek across Hyrule, she found herself in the snowy mountain region. While she was mentally prepared for the cold winds and the thigh-deep snow, she was unprepared for the mountains' frigid reality. The clothes she wore were only adequate for a short amount of time – not for the long length of time that she had been in the deep, stiffly piled snow.

_I don't even remember why I came here_, Zelda thought. _If I had known what the conditions were going to be, I doubt I would have come._ She didn't remember what she was seeking or desired to see here.

_I could have seen the mountains from afar and seen all I needed, _she thought grumpily.

Somehow, she managed to find a cave not far from the path winding up the sides of the mountains and dragged herself inside. It was not very deep, but the wind continued to screech past the entrance and into the cave on its way up the mountain. The freezing wind tore at the pockets of warmth she managed to trap within her cloak and soaked leggings.

_If I don't do something soon, I'll freeze_. She fought the unmotivated side of her mind, but could not summon the energy to make a fire. If she did not find or create a stronger source of warmth soon, she ran the risk of losing her extremities.

_Why did I come here? _She inwardly moaned. Not one for self-pity, she quickly shut herself down, but she could not ignore the fact that she was rapidly becoming more miserable. She shifted herself into a fetal position on the cave floor and swore to pay better attention to _The Hylian Traveler's Guide_ the next time she decided to venture out. _That is, if there's going to be a next time, _she thought gloomily. She curled around herself tighter.

Above all, she had to avoid falling asleep, or else, she risked dying out in mountain tundra. If she fell asleep, her body would not be able to alert her as to when she needed to begin moving again. Zelda heard the wind whip and whistle around the entrance to the cave and shifted her weight into a position that might cradle more warmth around her heart.

She considered paths out of her predicament: Use her magick arts to warm herself? _Goodness knows what's out there, even in this blizzard, _she thought. _Using magick would be a brightly colored banner - _"Princess Zelda is here!" – _to all the wrong people. Or all the wrong creatures. _

Risk going out into the blizzard to find material for a natural fire? _My flint is too worn and probably too wet to be of any use, _Zelda thought._ And how would I dig through a metre of snow to explore the possibility of wood or brush, both of which would be wet?_

Run back the way she came and hope that the action would warm her? _I _might _be able to find my way back. But that's a strong "might." This snowstorm obscures everything outside a four metre radius. And if I went the wrong way, I will have wasted the energy._ Zelda sighed and curled her head into her fetal position, fighting her drooping eyelids.

_No, no…stay awake, stay awake…_

* * *

><p>She didn't remember a fire being struck before her, being laid upon a thick sleeping bag or her wet leggings being tugged off, but she remembered waking up to a stomach gurgling against her back. <em>That's strange<em>, she thought as she raised her head and turned over her shoulder.

Worn smile on his face. Hair an absolute wreck. Blue eyes framed by white-blonde eyelashes blinking at her in inquisitive concern. Body curled around hers as tightly as she could ball up. The "well-placed and truly persistent" knight, Link.

"How dare you be so familiar with one of the Royal Family?" she drawled, utterly comfortable in the warmth coming into her body from every angle.

"I had one hell of a time trying to find you," Link replied.

"Language!" Zelda shouted, or, tried to shout. Her body's earlier attempts at keeping warm had sapped any excess energy she could have used.

Link closed his eyes, smiled, and lightly pushed her head down between his arms, crooked at a ninety degree angle directly in front of her. He placed his palm over her nose to warm it.

"Yet again, you owe me your thanks," he said, laughter in his voice.

Zelda lightly nipped his exposed arm before her. She had expected to be squeezed tighter – which he did – but also heard a light, very brief moan. She paused and began to consider the implications of the noise when he drew one arm away from her face and used his free hand to cup her knees and draw them in tighter to her and to himself.

"I'll thank you when we're out of this snowstorm and this region," Zelda replied from behind his hand.

"And I'll rely on your sense of direction to get us out," Link said, smiling and raising one eyebrow at her.

"We both know that it was my sense of direction that got us into this predicament," Zelda said, clearly embarrassed.

"I'm glad to hear you accept responsibility for your actions," Link replied teasingly before Zelda reared up. He had gone too far.

"Sir Link," she said. "You seem to forget to whom you are speaking!"

"Forgive me, your highness," he replied with the perfunctory amount of deference, but with the same hint of teasing as he always had in his eyes. "It was not my place."

She pressed her lips into a fine line and stared down at him for a moment. _He has always met my eyes, _she thought dreamily before settling down into the curve of his body again, this time, facing him.

"How did you find me?" She pressed.

"I followed your tracks and listened for the echoing sound of your footsteps. Snow is excellent for catching those sorts sounds," he replied. His usual merriness had returned in full form.

"I see," she replied. She didn't know what else to say.

Link gathered her more closely, pulling her knees up between their chests. After a moment, he said, "Shall I continue from the week before?"

Zelda blushed, her ears and cheeks becoming instantly warm. Quickly, she looked away from his face and examined the cave walls illuminated by the flickering orange and white fire. The previous week's episode had nearly brought her to her knees in terms of giving in to Link's love making. He already had her heart. But giving him her body seemed to be something else entirely to something in her subconscious. She had had many opportunities to finish the deed, to consummate their relationship, but the timing had never seemed ideal.

And it certainly wasn't as if his advances weren't welcome – heavens above, she had done her share of initiation.

_And what better time than the present?_ The mutinous other half of her brain sighed. _The friction would only warm the two of you up and the volume of the wind outside will surely veil your cries._

Zelda was so shocked at her thoughts that she choked. Link thumped her back to reorder her breathing and smiled at her.

_Oh Goddesses, _Zelda thought._ He knows _perfectly _well what's going on in my head. _

Yet, she had to admit that the deeply seated desire to touch him and have him touch her was becoming overwhelming. Maybe if she started …?

"If you do not want to continue," he said, "we can wait. There is no hurry."

"I _want _there to be a hurry," she said and slipped her arms around his neck. Carefully, experimentally, she laid her lips on his, as if she had never kissed him before. Zelda felt him press his hands to her back, and, though a tangle of heightened nerve endings, felt him slide just the tip of his tongue barely behind her lips. The slick, warm contact amazed her in the way it surprised a shiver to run down her back, across her hips and quiver in her groin.

_What a wanton creature I am_, she thought to herself. _One kiss and suddenly I'm ready to throw my clothes off, as if I'm one of those silly romance novel heroines. _However, she wasn't the only one becoming rapidly excited. Link drew her closer and she felt a firm warmth press up against her thigh. Oddly enough, she drew comfort from the sensation rather than feeling fear.

She ran her own tongue along the line of the press of his lips and kissed them in accordance with the steady wave of passion slowly gathering power. He slid his fingers up into her hair and grasped, bringing her closer to him.

Zelda saw him suddenly duck his head mid-kiss and begin a heated line of kisses down her throat and up the side of her neck. Zelda's breathing hitched and slightly accelerated, her heartbeat warming to the promise of delightful activity. She entwined her fingers into his long locks, pulled herself to rest slightly above him and curved her neck over his face, encouraging his kisses. He obliged, kick-starting her heart into a faster rhythm.

He peppered her neck and clothed shoulders with kisses. She lightly nipped and sucked upon his sensitive ear. For the second time that afternoon, her nip elicited another moan, only this one was louder in volume. It was something she had discovered only recently during their explorations into one another: he seemed to prefer tiny love bites to kisses. Though, most assuredly, he would never turn down a single kiss from her.

When he snuck a hand under the bottom of her tunic and cupped her bottom, she couldn't help a small start or her widening eyes. It wasn't a completely new sensation, but it was new enough. Link felt her start and took his hand away, used it to caress the middle of her back with firm strokes.

"_Shh shh shh_. We can take as much time as we like," he soothed.

Zelda nodded. The blatant sexuality of their present situation, the heat of the fire against her back, the sensation of Link's hands caressing her places she had only dreamed about in the dark of the night and the reality of her arms around Link's neck, her lips pressed against his made her head spin.

_And I'd rather not gain control_, Zelda thought as she kissed him harder and laid her leg above his, opening herself to him.

_Or, at least, I'd rather not gain control in the next few minutes. _

She placed his hand against her bottom and pressed it there, captivating his lips. Link moaned against her mouth and the sound electrified her whole body. She smoothed her hands down his front, working her way to his erection, which pointed up at her through his clothing. It seemed to know exactly what it wanted and how it wanted things to progress. She opened her hand and spread her fingers. Setting the heel of her palm against the base, she stroked up firmly. He lightly writhed against her, his short moans coming between breaths. Zelda continued the motion with both hands.

"We aren't completely balanced," he said huskily.

He trailed his open palm down from her neck and lightly massaging her clothed breast. Zelda gasped.

"Now, we're balanced." He grinned.

She had a verbal retort in mind, but she settled for placing her lips against his neck and sucking as sharply and as hard as she could – something she had also recently learned from Link. Link leaned his head back, panting, his Adam's apple pushing against the skin of his throat.

Of course, he had to even the score. Sliding down from her breast, over her stomach and tracing his little finger around the ring of her belly button through her tunic, he placed his hand on her thigh and began to stroke up and down, coming closer and closer to her core. At last, their position was too awkward to be comfortable for both of them and he switched his position to lie above her, but not between her legs – not yet.

Before she knew it, he had tugged her tunic up over her head and she was perfectly exposed to him. As he exploratory fingers inched further and further towards her core, he murmured scandalous endearments and encouragements to her, to her body, asking her to open just _a bit more_ for him. She squirmed, joining her moans with his.

At last, Link's inquisitive fingers discovered her entrance and that little nub. Her core was coated with a silk wetness that allowed his fingers to glide up and down, from her clit to her tight, warm entrance.

It was so _good_. Zelda clung to him, unable to even touch him the way he taught her. She tugged on Link's sleeve, even as he began experimentally circling the tip of his finger around her delicately formed nether lips.

"Please…" she managed to pant. "You – take off your clothes, too."

Link drew his hands away from her to comply and Zelda groaned at the deprivation of his warmth. Without saying a word, he stripped off his tunic and leggings and quickly pulled her tunic up over her head and tossed it onto his pile of discarded clothing. Utterly naked, they gazed at one another, shyly, as if they had never seen the other before.

Blushing, Link opened the sleeping roll and slipped her and himself into it. Link began his ministrations to her core and her breasts again. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth, daring her to imitate his dance. Zelda grazed her fingers over his nipples and between his kisses, she wet a finger and traced the pink circles.

His cheeks and chest were flushed dark pink and his eyes were lightly squeezed shut. He squirmed and clenched his fists, but smiled encouragement at her.

At last, she summoned the courage to attempt what she could not bring herself to try previously. Zelda placed her fingers on the head of his erection carefully and began to explore every centimetere of him – the tiny hole at his tip, the rounded, firm head, the long, smooth underside and his tightly clenched balls. He moaned particularly loudly when her fingers gently prodded the underside of the head. She began sliding her fist up and down as slowly as the sun rises and sets.

Link continued to finger her carefully, but now, he began dipping his fingers into her core. Zelda thrust her hips towards him suddenly and he paused.

"Don't stop," she gasped. "Don't stop, please!"

"What will you do if I stop?" He asked, lightly taunting her.

"I'll stop stroking you," she replied. He raised his eyebrows in response and tried to conceal a grin.

"You're enjoying your exploration too much to stop," Link said.

"Am I?" Zelda rose to the challenge and promptly stopped her strokes to his penis. Link's grin stayed where it was, but his choked back a groan and he squeezed his legs together. He also stopped and withdrew his fingers from her.

"If you are truly going to stop," Link said with a strained voice, "then I suppose ought to stop for the evening?"

A pause, then Zelda keened, "No, don't stop!"

Link laughed and plunged his fingers into her again, coaxing more of her warm silk to gather.

Zelda watched as he rose to a crouch on his knees and placed his forearms on either side of her head. Slowly, he pushed a finger all the way up into her. She felt him touch all her sensitive spots inside and she held his hand to keep that delightful bliss where it was. Zelda felt him slide a second finger into her and Link rocked in varied patterns in her. She was so inundated with pleasure that she held her breath and couldn't even cry out.

"Breathe," he said slowly, using his free hand to rub her belly.

She watched as he gave his priapic length a few strokes before lowering himself onto her. Zelda took his cock in her hand and guided him to her slick core. Link looked askance of her.

"Yes," Zelda said. She placed her free hand on his buttocks and gently encouraged him to come inside. She felt the thick head tremulously push past the muscle ring, then one thrust of her hips finally joined them. Link laid himself on her carefully, watching her face.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

"I'm surprised – it doesn't," Zelda replied with a frown. _That wasn't supposed to be how these things happened, was it?_

"It's a good thing," he said, cuddling her close. "You must have been quite ready." He thrust shortly to see the look on her face and was thoroughly rewarded – she moaned so beautifully and her face was exquisite in her arousal.

Link got up on his forearms, knelt, and pulled out. Zelda made a noise of desperation and wrapped her legs around his waist and he pushed back inside. Link held her shoulders and marginally increased the power of his thrusts. Zelda screamed through clenched teethed, fisted the bed roll under her and writhed under him.

"Please, Link…!" She cried.

"What is it?" He whispered in her ear.

"More…harder, faster!" She said, raising her hips to his, the muscles in her neck cording. She was so close she could _taste_ her climax.

He leaned over her and planted a kiss on her lips, then sped his thrusts up to a speed that Zelda couldn't believe. She curled her fingernails into his back and cried out in time with each of his movements while his hoarse cries competed in volume with hers.

She felt the warm wave begin and become hot inside her. Her orgasm rolled up over her and she screamed his name. He matched her cries and came _hard_, panting until he saw stars.

Link pressed and held himself inside her until their bodies collapsed from the tension. They embraced one another, shivering – but not because of the cold. He began to withdraw.

"…no, please. Stay," Zelda said and squeezed her muscles.

"As you wish," he said with a deeply satisfied, yet sleepy, grin.

"That's the fifth time this week you've said that, Link," she said softly. "If you know we're far closer than formalities, why do you use it?"

"I heard a wise man say it means, 'I love you,'" he replied.

Zelda considered for a moment. "That's silly," she said teasingly, also beginning to succumb to sleep's seductive embrace.

"Is it?" Link replied, drawling. "I'll have to think of something original."

Zelda sighed contentedly and snuggled closer. "Can I hear it the next time you catch me?"

"Mmm-mmm," Link murmured.

They had almost fallen asleep when she said, "You _are _quite warm, you know."

She opened her eyes slowly to see the barest hint of a smile growing on his lips. "That is surely because of your love, Zelda,"

She laughed before slipping away into the dark velvet of sleep.


End file.
